Gone
by VainJackdaw
Summary: Aftermath of If-Then-Else from Roots perspective. RootxShaw pairing. Slightly AU, one-shot, bits of fluff floating around here and there. Major Character (assumed) Death. You have been warned, and I am sorry xD


_**Hey there once again, I am the VainJackdaw and this is me being evil...again. But more from me at the end, just a quick message here to say I don't own POI, Root or Shaw :)**_

* * *

Shaw's apartment was always quiet, cold and barely furnished; it was how she'd liked it. But, as Root entered with the key she'd acquired (without permission of course), she found it almost unbearable.

The quiet was too hollow.  
The dark space too empty.  
The cold air too still.

She went to drop her keys on a nearby armchair but her hand froze.

 _Put them on the fucking table, or they'll get lost down the back and you'll spend hours looking,_ _ **again.**_

Root felt herself shudder.  
Still, she put her keys on the coffee table.

Dropping down onto the sofa, she sat in her usual spot, her head rolling to the side to stare at the other end.

 _Strands of hair that escaped her ponytail fell into Shaw's face as she cleaned her gun. She didn't even look up as Root sat down._  
 _"Any damage?"_  
 _"Worried, sweetie?" She smiled as she watched the scowl bloom over the woman's face._  
 _"Don't want you bleeding on my couch." Her tone turned gruff, almost sulky and Root laughed._  
 _"Well I'm perfectly fine, not a scratch..._ _ **Yet**_ _." She poured emphasis into the final word and grinned as the woman's face flickered with something like a smirk, so brief you really had to be watching to see it._

But the sofa was empty. There was nothing to see. Shifting over, Root curled up on Shaw's side of the sofa.

 _Take your shoes off, for fucks sake._

She obeyed the voice that echoed in the dark, halfheartedly kicking her boots off and onto the floor. The sofa smelt like gun oil, beer and Shaw. Her eyes closed as they began to burn.

 _"Wake up, idiot." Shaw's voice drifted into her head but she fought against it. Content to sleep, she snuggled deeper into her pillow.  
" **Root.** " Her name was growled in her ear and she lazily opened one eye to find the Sameen glaring down at her, from an odd angle... Oh. _

_She restrained a grin and simply tightened her arm around the woman's waist, burying her face deeper into toned abs as she mused over how she'd ended up with her head in the shorter woman's lap. In her defence, it was a very comfortable lap. A huff of annoyance came from Shaw's general direction and Root found herself flipped off of the sofa, landing with a hard thud on the floor, but it was almost worth it just to see Shaw's satisfied smirk directed down at her._

Her eye snapped open and, for a moment, she half expected Shaw to be stood over her..

Then she remembered.

The cushion beneath her head was wet. So was her jacket, but that was soaked with the blood that continued to flow from a bullet wound in her side. The bullet was still in there, she could feel it, but it was little more than a pinprick next to the agony that flowed endlessly through her head.

 _"If the worst comes to pass. If you could... give Shaw a message..."_

She'd never considered the possibility that 'the worst' could happen to Shaw. That she would be the one left behind with things left to say. Rolling onto her back, she lifted her shirt, her hand finding the puncture wound in her stomach with ease.

 _"Sameen, if you even think I'm gonna let you..."_

Ignoring the stab of pain, she dug her fingers in, searching for the bullet.

 _"For god's sakes." Shaw's irritation is clear as she throws off the hand on her shoulder._

There it was, wincing, Root closed her fingers around the smooth metal.

 _Irritation gave way to sheer exasperation and Root found herself dragged forwards. The kiss was hard and unforgiving, as if Shaw was blaming her for it._

A tiny gasp of pain escaped her as she pulled the bullet out, barely managing to keep her trembling fingers around it long enough to drop it on the floor.

 _Suddenly it was over and she was shoved back, landing her injured side hard against Lionel. The pain and the shock blended to freeze her in place as the metal grating slid down with a slam that echoed in her mind._

Her hand pressed down hard over the freshly bleeding wound as her chest heaved and shuddered with every breath.

 _"Playing with bombs?" Shaw scowled as she stitched up one of the three new wounds in Roots arm and shoulder. The shrapnel she'd removed was now sitting on a tea towel on the coffee table._  
 _"Only a little." She pouted back jokingly but winced as the thread was pulled tight._  
 _"Where was my invite?" Shaw smirked and Root laughed._  
 _"Aw, sorry sweetie, next time I'll make sure you get to come too~." She grinned and Shaw rolled her eyes, dropping the needle and thread and starting to dress the fresh stitches._  
 _"You'd better. This one was pretty close to hitting an artery." She jabbed the largest of the injuries and Root winced, but smirked._  
 _"Worried about me, Sameen?" She titled her head with a crooked smirk but Shaw simply scowled up at her, cleaning her hands on a towel._  
 _"Don't want to be the one to bury your ass." She paused to set the towel aside._  
 _"You're too fucking tall, it'd take all day to dig the hole." A crooked smirk appeared and a surprised laugh bubbled forth from Root's lips before she could stop it. With a grin she swept down, pressing her lips against the shorter woman's, her smile growing when she wasn't immediately shoved backwards off of the sofa._

 _Eventually she pulled back, her eyes remaining shut as her smile dropped._  
 _"I don't want to bury you either." She opened her eyes and met Sameen's seriously for half a second before shrugging, a grin forming back on her face._  
 _"Bear would keep digging you back up."_

The streaks of tears on her cheeks continued to flow as she squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to remain in the memories. When Shaw would scowl and roll her eyes and Root would smirk and flirt.

But those days were gone. They'd gone the minute Shaw saved them all.

In the moment they'd all lost hope, even the all knowing machine having no clue what to do, Shaw had appeared, explosives in hand and a smirk on her face.

Then she'd died.

And there was no-one to shoot, nothing to hack, no subtle and carefully thought out instructions to follow that would bring her back.

Shaw was gone and it was all Root could do to keep from screaming.

* * *

 ** _Guys... I am so sorry xD_**

 ** _Again, I was tired, and apparently that makes me write evil things, in the process of writing a few... less painful things, one of which involves cake, so we might be in for something that isn't angsty as hell, but I make no promises._**


End file.
